Happy Birthday
by Brithna
Summary: Devil Wears Prada and a tiny bit of Twilight - Miranda's transformation has left a lot to be desired…or so some people think. Actually she's fine the way she is—she just needs to figure that out for herself.


Title: Happy Birthday

Author: Brithna

Beta: None so you know what that means. Mistakes.

Fandom: Devil Wears Prada / Twilight (oh dear God help me)

Pairing: Miranda/Andy

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these people. _In fact I do not even own up to the fact that I wrote this._

Rating: PG13…I guess…I suck at rating.

Summary: Miranda's transformation has left a lot to be desired…or so some people think. Actually she's fine the way she is—she just needs to figure that out for herself.

A/N: Okay, kill me now. Never in a thousand years did I think I would write something this dumb; but a few MONTHS ago I did indeed write this… I really couldn't help it. I just came to me and I had to write it in order to get it out of my head and get my sanity back—or what is left of my sanity. God help me. And to top it all off -it's completely boring.

_**Happy Birthday **_

It was day three of her trip to continue photographing some of the more remote areas along the Cascade Highway. Three days equaled a lot of progress that totaled out to thousands of pictures. Of course only a hundred or so of those would be deemed acceptable in Miranda's eyes, but at least she would have a lot to choose from.

This project was taking longer than most. Highway 20 was inundated with far too many stories that needed to be told…preserved; especially the areas that Miranda was traveling through. Obviously if she was more inclined to rush through it, she'd be done with the entire thing by now. But she wasn't. Speed was never her focus. In this work the only thing she found speed good for was a sunrise and a sunset. Other than that it was all done at a glacial pace. In fact most of her life went along at glacial pace now, which was exactly the way she wanted. Was there really ever a point in speeding through life? Especially now? No.

Miranda's propensity for the _normal_ was baffling to pretty much everybody but maybe Bella. But then again as time went by Bella was becoming less concerned with 'normal' too. She seemed to be enjoying her power, speed and abilities more and more but at least she knew of the emotional place from which Miranda was coming from.

Miranda had serious doubts that she would ever give up her newfound desire to live as normal a life as possible. Not even a thousand years from now.

Speaking of time… Miranda checked her watch and jumped only mid-way up the tallest tree in this little valley then climbed the rest way. Okay, so this wasn't 'normal' but at least it wasn't a full blown catapult into space like Edward was so fond of.

Reaching the top, Miranda maneuvered to the edge of a good sized branch as far as she dared. Even though she knew she would survive a fall and had before, it was still not something she wished to experience often. It was certainly more psychological than anything else.

Once she was well settled, the predawn sky immediately stole her attention. To Miranda's eyes the stars were much brighter and had an extraordinarily crisp quality about them. It was a shame she couldn't get a camera to translate what she saw. NASA would be downright ashamed of itself. Space…that would be interesting for sure. But dangerous. She would probably break something and be stuck there forever. Unacceptable.

"Focus…focus." She shook her head and looked down at her watch. Twelve minutes to go. She would have to pay close attention now if she was going to count the last little bit of time down. But focusing was hard so she might very well miss it just like she almost the year before. That bothered Miranda the most about her new life. Focus. She hardly had any.

While everybody else could focus on a singular thing all day long if they wanted, somehow that ability not only skipped Miranda, but was taken from her. When she was human that was all she did…focus. The transformation was supposed to enhance qualities in you that you _already_ possessed but apparently that wasn't true for everyone. Or at least not for her.

Carlisle of course was mystified by her inability to do something as simple as wrap her head around one thing at a time; but that was only because he thought he was the 'be all, end all' of Vampire Education as Miranda called it. Carlisle wasn't. It was indisputable that yes he probably knew more than anyone but Miranda felt he was limited to accept what might be different and had certainly challenged his knowledge on more than one occasion. Like Renesmee had…but never to the same degree. Where was that girl anyway?

Never mind about Renesmee… "five, four, three, two, one…Happy Birthday to me." She whispered. That was it: 2:48am. Now she was two years old. "Two years…with thousands more to go."

Choosing to stay in the tree and enjoy her birthday for a few minutes longer, Miranda opened up her back-pack and took out her thermos. There was nothing like a little blood in the early hours of the morning, right? She would have much preferred Starbucks to this but at least it wasn't _bear_. Emmett was always trying to turn her into a bear lover. Really when it came right down to it she didn't care where it came from. She just wasn't hunting for it unless she could help it.

All in the name of her attempt to be 'normal' Miranda only hunted when she _really_ needed to. The rest of the time her whims were indulged, and that which her survival depended upon showed up on her door step in a thermos on a regular basis. Miranda wasn't sure how they did it and she didn't care. Alice was the one that mostly helped her in this area. Miranda suspected it was the clothes and shoes that mysteriously found their way to Alice's closet that kept her willing.

From the very beginning Alice was always falling all over herself where Miranda was concerned. After all, it was Alice that quickly informed every one of just who Miranda was. Of course she would know. Alice was probably the most fashionable vampire that was ever made…and where did a good portion of that knowledge come from? _Runway_.

Miranda finished off her 'coffee' in one long sip and put her thermos away. Nothing good ever came of thinking about _Runway_. It was a part of her life that was over and almost seemed unbelievable to begin with. But then again if it hadn't been for _Runway_…she wouldn't be who she was now.

The photo-shoot had been hundreds of miles away…_hundreds_. So how did she end up twenty miles south of the Cullen's house? She'd been running away. Just driving and driving and driving, trying to figure out what was happing and what it all meant. Miranda would not be successful in _that_ particular venture until quite some time later.

She wanted to believe that Andrea wasn't serious. That it was all a joke. Yet it had all been confirmed by her turning in her resignation right then and there after confessing that '_I'm in love with you Miranda and you have to know…because I can't let any more time slip by_'. Yes, even with all of Miranda's inability to focus and lack of recall, she definitely would remember that forever. Thousands of years.

Instead of saying that she felt the same way or that she at least did not want Andrea to quit, Miranda walked straight out of the hotel, got into her rental car and drove. It was childish at best and it cost Miranda more than she could ever imagine.

Whenever Miranda got behind the wheel of car most thoughts of her safety went out the window unless she had the twins with her. Back then Miranda loved speed. That night the highways were wide open and not a single cop was within a ten mile radius at any point in her journey. And of course by the time she was close to Forks let's face it, at 2:48am there is _nothing_ on the road accept the occasional deer. How lucky can you get?

The car flipped a total of four times then planted itself firmly into a tree. At this section of Highway 101 there was no house's close by so it went virtually unnoticed. Only two people heard the crash. A mother and daughter out for an early morning stroll, or run…hunt if you want to get technical.

Renesmee's inquisitive nature would not let her avoid investigating so she took off with Bella cursing her the whole way. When they got to scene though, Bella forgot all about lecturing the girl for being so reckless. What would happen next was probably an inevitable thing for Bella. If it hadn't happened then, it would have later on. Bella was too sympathetic, too caring, and with Renesmee right there beside her carrying on about _helping_…she helped.

Miranda was pulled from the car and taken up a hill just a short distance. Bella left her with Renesmee while she _tossed_ the car into the woods out of sight. The conversation that took place next would decidedly be the end of it all and nearly cause a war. Bella was insistent on taking Miranda to Carlisle so he could get her to the hospital but Renesmee was just as insistent that Bella do something entirely different. She had a better idea.

And blah, blah, blah. Miranda had forgotten what else was said between them although Renesmee had shown her twenty times before. The point is - Bella did indeed do as her daughter asked; biting Miranda in three places to hurry things along then carted her off to Carlisle.

By the time they got to the house, which was really only a few seconds later, Jacob arrived in all his irritating glory. If Miranda and Rosalie ever agreed on anything it was that Jacob was a useless mutt that only served to annoy the hell out of everyone.

No one ever told Miranda much about the fighting that took place…the yelling, the arguing over treaties and other non-sense. Even Renesmee wouldn't show her that much. She was glad. Boring details did not interest her. It all came down to one thing: Bella and Renesmee could get away with pretty much anything they wanted according to Edward and Jacob.

Things between the Cullen's and the mutt's, as Miranda called them, were strained again for a awhile after that, but eventually evened out after a time. The fact that Miranda turned out to be so 'tame' and that they hardly ever saw her was a big plus. Miranda was prejudice to her own kind even if she professed to not be an official member of anybody's _gang_; she wanted nothing to do with any dogs of any breed.

Finally Miranda realized the sun was rising. It was almost done and she'd totally missed it. Quickly putting her backpack on, Miranda decided to just jump down for once and get it over with. No one had to know.

For a while she skirted around the tree line systematically photographing the transformation of the valley. Even if it was a cloudy day there was still something to be said for a sunrise. To someone that had a second chance at life they were all nice no matter what and at least it was cloudy enough to prevent that hideous sparkling effect.

Sparkling quickly became an after-thought as several birds flew past. She listened closely but heard nothing else except the water from a stream a little ways off. After finishing her round of picture taking Miranda hiked deeper into the trees to her definition of a home-base. She would wait here to make sure the weather did not change. According to the forecast it wouldn't but she made it a habit to never trust the weather man completely.

There was nothing to do except write in her notebook but that didn't appeal to her, especially since her concentration was almost non-existent at the moment. Needing something, anything to do, she dumped the contents of her back-pack onto the ground to reorganize. It was hardly possible for Miranda to sit still for long. Her mind couldn't take it. She was always reading, writing, checking Google…anything to pass time. Nothing ever really worked.

It only took five minutes to put her back-pack back together. It was full of things she had no use for; most of it being for show - save her cameras and notebooks. That wasn't nearly enough time wasted so she laid down and just waited, staring up into the trees…just waiting. Soon she would have to go back to her car though; which was another reason she hoped the weather held out.

It was parked a few miles away at a hotel. The run here from her house, which was next door to the Cullen's, would have only taken a little time but again…she strived for the normal. Civilized people drove; they did not run through the woods at hundreds of miles an hour. Nor did they run around in couture eating animals _or_ people. That was also something Miranda had never done and would never do. From the very beginning _people_ were off limits. That was simply barbaric.

Jasper had fits over it in his own little way just like he had with Bella. He was convinced that Miranda was going to snap but she had him read like a book in a minute - and called him on it. Jasper was just jealous because he still couldn't control himself – which translated to a personal problem that Jasper needed to go off and figure out on his own. Obsessing about it wasn't working out of him very well. Needless to say, Jasper and Miranda were not friends.

As for the clothing issues, Miranda's wardrobe choices drove Alice out of her mind. She just could _not_ understand that yes, Miranda still loved all those things but it simply was _not_ functional here, not suitable for who she was now or what she was doing way out here in the woods.

Take for example if Miranda ever came across actual _people_ on her photography adventures? Having on heels and Vivian Westwood's latest and greatest would be unexplainable…which is why Miranda also insisted on carrying a little climbing gear with her. Alice however remained unconvinced, therefore, she never got to go anywhere with Miranda. Period.

The unmistakable sound of air moving swiftly through the trees had Miranda's attention and in a split second she was ready for whatever was coming her way. But then the sound of air was replaced by footsteps. Very familiar footsteps. What in hell was _she_ doing here? Andrea _knew_ that Miranda was coming home today so what was this about and who…well it would have to be Esme, she's the _only_ one that Andrea could beg into doing something like this…hopefully something wasn't wrong.

From her footsteps it sounded like she was a mile or more away so Miranda had time to sit, think and be bored unless she saw something of interest to take a picture of…but that was highly unlikely since she was done with this area. It was always like this….well not all the time but more than a few times Andrea had begged until Esme ran her to where ever Miranda was. Esme would always drop Andrea off a few miles away or at least at the most reasonable place to start a hike from, and just leave her. Miranda was under strict instructions to not come and get her. That's how Andrea wanted it. She was a very stubborn woman.

Andrea explained that hiking and or climbing the rest of the way made her feel more powerful; like she wasn't weak or had to depend on someone else to get her where she wanted to go. But - the first time Andrea tried her brilliant idea out, it was not received well by Miranda. She was infuriated. Andrea could have been hurt or gotten lost or a whole host of things.

Eventually Andrea won out and it was only because Miranda knew that if anything, even the smallest thing was going wrong she would know it. While Miranda couldn't read someone's thoughts or see the future _or_ even have the mind frame of an adult much of the time, she could at least sense when Andrea was in trouble and that was enough for Miranda. So? Miranda kept her mouth shut and Andrea was as careful as possible and at the end of the day, everyone was happy.

It could be worse. Andrea could not be here at all. In the beginning it had been so hard and the simple fact that they were even together at all was a miracle. Nowadays Miranda was more inclined to not push sensitive subjects around the table unless it was absolutely necessary. In return Andrea tried very hard to make sure there was hardly ever a _need_ for those sensitive subjects to be brought up. So far it was working.

According to her GPS system it was nearing a temperature that Andrea would classify as 'fire worthy' so Miranda collected a pile of stray limbs and within minutes a fire was going. Since Miranda was plenty comfortable no matter what and since she had trouble remembering to _remember_ things like that…she did the best she could whenever possible.

Sometimes Miranda wondered if Andrea regretted her choice to stay here. It would have been so easy for her leave…it would _still_ be easy for her to leave according to Miranda; but she hadn't yet…so maybe she wouldn't ever. Miranda couldn't allow herself to say that for sure though. Edward of all people tried to assure Miranda that Andrea was here to stay but she wasn't interested in hearing something like that from Edward. After all, he'd left Bella out in the woods in the middle of the night and ran off because he felt sorry for himself. He was not qualified to give advice on who was or was not leaving.

Miranda remembered the first time she'd read that story. After the _mess_ Renesmee caused with the Volturi was over, Bella sat down in her 'free' time and wrote her story down for the sake of posterity or some other non-sense. Miranda would never tell her so but she was glad Bella had done it. It helped in a way. But anyway…Edward was an idiot, Jasper wasn't to be trusted and thank God for Alice who apparently had more sense than all of them sometimes.

Miranda couldn't imagine doing something like that to Andrea. All though she sort of had once in the beginning. But not really…it was different because Andrea had _known _Miranda would come back and it was only just for a little while.

When Carlisle started to notice the differences in Miranda verses what he _thought_ she should be, he just would _not_ leave her be. Maybe if she'd been older, at the time she was only three months into her new life; it wouldn't have bothered her so much. But it bothered her. A lot. Miranda was not made to be studied and Carlisle incessant need to always know the what, where, when and how of everything started to be too much for her. So what if she was apparently suffering from some form of ADD now…so what if she liked her _food_ in a coffee cup every morning or that she could steer clear of humans…so what if she could sleep…yes, Miranda could sleep…just a little

Actually that wasn't known until later but anyway - Beyond all _that_ she had nothing else significant going on, or at least she thought she didn't. Miranda was just a misfit in the scheme of things really. She did not measure up to the yard stick everyone held up against her…maybe Carlisle just needed to get out more and meet new people? The point of this whole thought process was: For the first time in her life - Miranda did not measure up.

Anyway...all his questioning was just too much so she simply took off. When she came back a week later, Miranda carried with her four cameras from a pawn shop and literally thousands of photographs and promptly told Carlisle to leave her the hell alone. The only one brave enough to ask her anything about her one week 'project run-away' was Esme because she wanted to see the photographs. Well and there Andrea of course.

Andrea basically tore her to shreds over the whole affair and Miranda had refrained from running off like that since. Whenever Miranda went away now it was always planned and mapped out and Andrea was happy. And for God sakes a happy Andrea equaled out to a _very _happy Miranda for sure. Where was she anyway? Miranda looked up the side of the hill…or mountain rather and could see her coming now. Very carefully.

More birds flew overhead and robbed Miranda of her attention again. Taking pictures of birds wasn't something Miranda was into but she might have to start. It would be different at least. Her ability to be still forever if necessary would come in very handy. One kind, she couldn't remember the name, reminded her of the color of a dress from a few seasons ago that would have been perfect for Andrea. Maybe she could find one on the internet…or call Nigel?

They hardly spoke now. They should, she owed him more than that.

After her transformation was well underway Bella went back to the car with Emmitt and retrieved all her belongings that they could and did God knows what with the car. Miranda never saw it again. Her cell phone survived and from the call logs it was easy to see that Andrea was almost the only person she ever called on a more than regular basis. Once Alice saw Miranda and realized who she was; even Carlisle admitted they had to do something otherwise all hell would break lose. Andrea was called…that's a really long story…but all hell broke loose anyway, of course, between arguing with the stupid mutts and the press coverage over her very sudden retirement; but they got through it.

Nigel was at the helm now and after two years Miranda honestly hardly thought of it. She shouldn't totally avoid him though…maybe she would call him later. She knew her girls would call her today, after all it was her birthday and you only turn two once. They lived with their father now. This year they were going to stay for the summer; give it a trial run. The twins had been here twice before for only a few days each time but now they wanted more. They were tired of waiting. Telling them had happened quickly too.

Carlisle hadn't agreed with it since technically, according to him, it wasn't necessary; but Miranda didn't let that stop her. She agreed to go away if things went badly but Miranda knew they wouldn't. She knew her girls better than anyone. All she had to do was prove it to them and give them time to process things. That's all it took and it made Bella a tad bit jealous. Her family would never be able to handle the truth.

The Volturi were obviously less than _happy_ because that just meant two more people knew their secrets but they were still afraid of the Cullen's _and_ the mutts, so for now it wasn't an issue and Miranda prayed every day that it stayed that way.

Soon everything in regards to New York was _very_ quiet. Too quiet. At first Miranda was a little miffed that _Runway_ just kept right on moving along as if she'd never been there at all. But then maybe she had been foolish to think that it couldn't survive without her?

"Hey!" Andrea called out and in less than a second Miranda cleared the distance and was right beside her. Using her speed when it came to Andrea was never something Miranda debated on.

"Yes?" Miranda replied in her usual calm, quiet manner which only served to make Andrea laugh.

"I love how you do that. You just show up and act like you've been standing here the whole time."

"Well? What would you have me do? Sing a show tune to announce my approach?" Miranda snorted and took her back-pack. "What's in here?"

"You're birthday presents. Well most of them anyway and this." She held up a new hiking stick then made good use of it as they continued on.

"You got me a hiking stick? I hardly need that. Can I carry you the rest of the way?"

"No, I'm fine. You know I don't like that." She put an arm around Miranda's waist to smooth out any feelings that might have been hurt in her refusal.

"Yet you let Esme cart you out here." Exactly.

"That's different and she doesn't take me all the way. You know that. Besides, this way I can go back home with you. That's nice isn't it?"

"Yes…yes, that's nice. I'm sorry."

"It's okay I just wish you would finally let _that_ go. I like to hike and besides I _don't_ hike if you're not around, so?"

She was right. Andrea never walked, hiked, jogged, anywhere unless Miranda was within a decent range. "Okay, I'll finally let _that_ go. Happy?"

"Yes, thank-you. By the way I got you the walking sick in case you go to Big Sky soon. You know…you might see some people."

"I was thinking about that earlier. Perhaps it should all be sunsets and night time?"

"I'd feel better with that. The weather is _much_ nicer there than here Miranda and you _know_ how careful you have to be. The clothes, hats and gloves only go so far."

"Do you want to go with me?" Miranda didn't really want her too but she would make a concession if need be to keep Andrea's anxiety level down. Miranda liked time alone. When she felt like giving in for a while and being depressed or something else equally ridiculous, it was better to be away.

"No, you go ahead. I can't get away from the paper for that long anyway. Travis is giving me fits."

"You should just fire him; you're the editor for God's sake. Just do it."

Andrea tugged on her arm in an effort to chastise her. Miranda knew Andrea wasn't firing anybody. She hadn't done it one single time since she took the Editors job in Port Angeles and Andrea wasn't about to start now. It wasn't in her nature. "Hush, I'm not firing Travis. He's one of the best reporters I have."

"You should fire Travis." Miranda repeated and chuckled when Andrea tugged on her arm again Miranda just picked her up and started carrying her the last quarter of a mile of their walk while Andrea kicked in a very useless attempt to get away. "You know that doesn't work, darling."

"Put me down! I want to walk."

"No, and stop kicking me before you actually hurt yourself. You'll break your foot." Finally Andrea gave up and wrapped her arms around Miranda's neck. She walked on without receiving any further abuse.

"Okay, so maybe this is nice sometimes."

"It is….ah, here we are." Miranda set her down and handed over the back pack. They sat down across from one another near the fire. It was easier to talk when they faced each other. Miranda's mind stayed more on track that way if Andrea's face was primarily all she could see. For the millionth time in two years she wished the whole 'ADD' thing would just go away. Everything would be so much easier.

"Okay, let me give you your presents." Andrea grinned and started rummaging around in her pack. Receiving presents for this sort of birthday was a little crazy in Miranda's view but everyone seemed to be really into it so there was nothing else to do but go along. She refused to celebrate Carlisle's though. Hadn't he had enough already?

"I have to give you this one first. It's from Emmitt." Andrea handed her a thermos not unlike the one she already carried.

"What pray tell is in here?" Miranda started to carefully open it. You had to careful around Emmitt. He was as likely to give you a bomb as he was something of actual use. Miranda looked inside and it was more of the same thing that was in her other thermos. Or so she thought.

"It's a tiger."

"_A what_?" No wonder it smelled different.

"Yeah, they just got home from their trip. He said 'Happy Birthday' and…" she started laughing and fell over like a child onto the ground, "you owe him a Jeep."

For the second time, "_What_?"

"Yep. When he got back he noticed the bottom of his Jeep is all tore up. I forgot what he said was wrong with it but Rosalie told him you did it. So now he wants a new Jeep."

"I'm killing Rosalie. I haven't even been over there in weeks and I've never touched his Jeep. He believed her?"

"Of course he did! Personally I think it's hilarious. How are you planning on committing this _murder_?"

"I will simply rip her into pieces and hide them in various dark corners of the world. That will keep her plenty busy."

"Sounds brilliant…try your present."

"You know I don't like to drink in front of you."

"Oh, _whatever_. You need to get over that. Here," She handed Miranda a handkerchief. "Now you can even wipe your mouth afterwards. Just try it; I swear I won't be grossed out. I've told you that hundreds of times before."

"Fine." Miranda gave in and tried it. It was…different. Stronger, sweeter. In fact it was so good she almost drank it all before realizing it. Finally she forced herself to pull away. She'd have the rest later if it stayed warm enough. "Happy?"

"Yep. Was it good?"

"Yes." If Miranda could blush she would now. This was always an embarrassing topic for her to discuss. It might always be until Andrea was in the same boat with her, then it might be easier. Then she might actually try hunting more.

"Hey…hello?" Andrea waved her hand in front of Miranda's face.

"What? Oh, sorry…I was just…" Miranda tried to act like she hadn't missed whatever had just been said. Focus.

"It's okay. I love you." Andrea sat up on her knees and leaned over, kissing Miranda before she'd remembered to wipe her mouth off. Miranda pushed Andrea back and she landed on her ass - hard. Served her right. That was a definite no, no.

"Don't do that Andrea…" She wiped her mouth and threw the handkerchief into the fire.

"I'm sorry…" her voice trailed off as she laid her head down in Miranda's lap. Instantly all was forgiven. "I don't care you know…and that one sort of tasted good." Miranda rolled her eyes.

"You are a very strange girl you know that right?"

"I know…that's why you love me."

"I suppose…so…while we're on the subject of _food_, are you still," Miranda brushed her hair out of her face purely from habit and frustration. This has hard to talk about just like a lot of other things. "Thinking about when…you know?" She still couldn't say it.

"You know I am. I already told you that." Andrea wrapped her arms around Miranda's waist. Miranda wondered how uncomfortable it was to hug someone like her…in a weird way Andrea was basically holding on to a rock. "I want to do it before the girls move in…In case I'm not as awesome at this as you and Bella. You know - all that control you have. What if I don't? I doubt the twins should be here for that."

_Right_. "Okay." And that was all there was to say. Unlike Edward, Miranda never tried to change Andrea's mind. Why should she? Miranda couldn't survive without her so why wouldn't she want her to…you know. Regardless of Edwards _feelings,_ or the mutts, or their stupid treaty, Edward should have just let Bella do what she wanted to do. To Miranda it sounded like they wasted an awful lot of time arguing about something that was going to happen anyway. But then there wouldn't be Renesmee and then there wouldn't be Miranda…and then she wouldn't have needed Edward to basically give her a Human/Vampire sex education class. Embarrassing. Very…very embarrassing.

Miranda was so busy being lost in space that she didn't notice Andrea was sitting up now digging through her bag again. Focus.

"I got you something else. Here ya go…" She dug a new pair of hiking boots out of her bag.

"Ah, these are perfect."

"Well I know you could do all this barefoot if you wanted but you might as well look good at the same time, right?" This time when she sat up and kissed Miranda, Miranda did not push her back. "Lay down…please…and take this ridiculous hat off." Andrea did it for her as they lay down on the sleeping bag that was already unfolded behind them. "Did you sleep last night?" She whispered that…it was another sensitive subject.

"No…not at all this week. I haven't felt the urge." More birds flew overhead and for a while Miranda was distracted with thoughts of angles and heights and bird nests and…

"Maybe you'll sleep tonight."

"Maybe." It was never predictable. Sometimes she slept a little every night but then might not for days on end. Just so long as she didn't sleep during the day it didn't matter. Miranda hated to sleep during the day.

The first time it happened, it nearly scared both Andrea and Carlisle to death – if Carlisle had been capable that is. Miranda was home by herself of course since Andrea was at work. She'd been reading and working on a textbook she was writing on design concepts. Around one that afternoon she started feeling a little strange. The sensation seemed familiar in some way but she couldn't exactly pin it down. She thought about calling Andrea, but then Andrea would just call Carlisle and Miranda was still mad at him at the time – so that was out of the question. Besides, it wasn't like she could die from anything, certainly not from just feeling strange. Instead of making phone calls she went upstairs and laid down in the bed, prepared to stare at the ceiling for hours until Andrea came home. Miranda did not wake up for nearly two days.

So for two straight days everybody waited because waiting was the only thing there was to do. Carlisle of course researched the subject into the ground but came up with nothing which actually made Miranda pretty happy after it was all said and done. It was just another thing he did _not_ know about.

When she woke up, Carlisle started in with his questions again but this time Andrea cut him off at the pass. She was well aware of what would happen if he kept it up. Meanwhile, Miranda wasn't aware that any time had passed at all. It was like it never happened. Yet there were the dreams. Very vivid dreams, like she'd actually been somewhere else in another life. But Miranda never spoke of them and she definitely never spoke about how much better she felt afterwards.

Over time a pattern never did develop but the periods where she slept for days on end were few and far between now. At least she could recognize the feeling and knew what it meant. But even if Carlisle wasn't asking her questions anymore he was still _talking_ about it…or he _did_ until Renesmee spoke up one night.

He was going on and on at the dining room table about all his 'research' one evening and finally Renesmee looked up from her Xbox game and said 'Why can't it just be okay that she sleeps? What if it _is_ possible…I'm hardly possible but here I sit getting my butt handed to me at _Halo_! Maybe it's like a battery charge…who cares.' Miranda did nothing but thank Renesmee and comment on how sometimes the girl was so much more logical than the rest of the household.

That _finally_ made things considerably more bearable but Miranda was still unsure of herself in a lot of areas and for someone like Miranda Priestly to feel unsure of herself, well that was more than a little Earth shattering.

"Hey." Suddenly a finger was tracing the line of her jaw. Oh, yeah…

"What were you thinking about?"

"Renesmee…where is she by the way?"

"I have no idea honey, probably somewhere with Jacob. Why?"

"I was just thinking about her…I have no idea why. Twice today."

"Hm. I'm sure everything's fine. Hey, guess what Bella asked me last night. She came over to check on me…which is stupid…but she wanted to know how things were going."

"How things are going? What _things_ is she referring to?"

"You know…" Andrea placed a lingering kiss on her neck and then she knew _exactly_ what Bella was talking about.

"Oh. _That_." Again if Miranda could blush she would. It took a year for Miranda to get comfortable with the idea and six more months to actually get up the nerve to try. "What did you say?"

"I told her it was none of her business and then I told her everything was fucking awesome." She giggled then in a cute sort of way that years ago would have gotten on Miranda's nerves.

"Well I hope she approves." Miranda said sarcastically.

"She does."

"Good for her." Miranda held her tighter but very carefully all at the same time. Measuring pressure was something Miranda was always working on…in many areas.

"Yeah, that's what I said. She asked me what we're doing for our anniversary…it's coming up you know. One month away and you'll have been stuck with me for two years. Yay for you, right?"

Miranda chuckled and shook her head in agreement; but turned serious soon after. "I was thinking today about how lucky I am that I have you. I'm just sorry that I walked away that night. Things would be…different, better."

"Shh…seriously don't say things like that. Things are perfect as they are and I wouldn't have it any other way. I know this is hard. It's hard for me too but we're doing pretty good right?"

"You are."

"No…don't." Andrea lay on top of her and made herself right at home. Sometimes Miranda felt like a jungle gym but that was just fine. "Miranda, you need to relax. This happened to you for a reason. I totally believe that. You're not like all the others. So what. Have you ever thought that maybe the concentration issue…the sleeping…is a gift in itself? And let me remind that while you've got tennis balls in your head sometimes for brains, you're still able to concentrate enough to go throughout your life at a normal pace. There might be a reason for those things that you just haven't found yet. As for the sleep? Personally I love that you can sleep with me sometimes."

"That might be…and yes I'm okay with sleeping."

"You know, on one hand you're very comfortable with who you are now and on the other you're _so_ not and I wish there was something I could do about that. Sometimes…sometimes I think it might get better once I do this too."

"That is certainly a possibility, I won't lie. But don't take that the wrong way Andrea. I do _not_ want you to feel pressured. I know you say you don't but I worry."

"I'm not pressured and if I ever start to feel that way I will tell you. Deal?"

"Acceptable."

"All right then. Moving on to happier things...Lilly called. You made 30,000$ today. Happy Birthday!"

That certainly was happy news and it produced a smile…almost a grin. So sending her photographs to Lilly, who was totally in the dark about most things, really was working? Interesting. The money was something Miranda did not need but what she _did_ need was the validation. Miranda needed to be good at something again and it turns out that _Miranda Prescott_ was a _really_ good photographer. "How many did she sell?"

"Just two. She has six left."

Okay, Miranda Prescott was a _really_, _really_ good photographer…or at least she was today. "That amazes me."

"Oh, come on. You're fabulous at it. Who knew? It's all about where you can get Miranda. I mean you're practically _hanging_ off the side of a mountain sometimes to get a shot that no one's seen before. That's bank."

"True." Miranda poked her in the ribs and laughed. "Now you can go shopping." Which really was funny because Andrea's version of shopping currently consisted of sweat-shirts, e-books, and movies. Big spender.

"Yay…I need some sweat-shirts."

"God, how did I know you were going to say that?"

"Predictability is my specialty."

"Indeed it is my dear. Indeed it is."

THE END –I can't freakin' believe I just posted this…


End file.
